When I submitted the last project, I grabbed my keys and headed out.
I had been waiting to hear back from Nick Freeman for days now, and I had never been particularly good at waiting.
I shook my head as I drove away from the house. Maybe this was a bad idea. I didn’t even know if anything good was going to come out of it. It was entirely possible after all this Nick was just going to tell me the same thing as all the others. There was nothing he could do, and I just needed to call the police if I wanted to get something done. Maybe I should just let it go.
Driving around aimlessly for a while brought me to a cute local park where I liked to walk. Strolling along the picturesque paths was a relaxing way to spend a few hours while waiting. At least I wasn’t looking at the same walls or giving in to my compulsion to pace.
It was getting late in the afternoon when my stomach started to rumble. Stopping at one of the little outside markets that dotted the park, I ordered a sandwich and fruit salad and brought it over to a tree to eat. When my lunch was done, I tossed my trash and headed home feeling that at least some of the edge was gone. As I walked into the house and contemplated throwing in a load of laundry, my phone rang. I fumbled around trying to pull it out of my pocket. When I finally did, I saw Nick’s name pop up on the screen.
Excitement fluttered in my stomach at the sight of the name. Possibly a bit more excitement than was really warranted.
“Hello?” I said.
“Bryn? This is Nick Freeman,” he said.
“Hi, Nick,” I said. “How are you?”
It was a perfectly acceptable question, yet it made me cringe.
“Doing fine. I wanted to talk to you about a couple things,” he said.
“Alright,” I said, gathering up clothes from the hamper so I had something to do with my hands. “Go ahead.”
“Actually, I’d rather not talk over the phone. Do you think you could meet me tonight?” he asked.
I paused, my hands still in the hamper and my head pressing my phone to my shoulder. He couldn’t see me, but I couldn’t bring myself to pull my bra out while talking to him. Particularly after he just asked me to meet up with him. It was business. It was definitely just business
“Tonight?” I asked to give my brain time to catch up.
“Yeah. I’m going to see my best friend for a bit in about an hour. We can have a drink and talk. I’ll text you the information,” he said.
“Sure,” I said. “I’ll see you then.”
We ended the call, and a few seconds later, a text appeared. I opened it and read the information for the bar. It wasn’t somewhere I’d ever been, but I recognized the area. It was local and would only take me a few minutes to get there.
I hopped into the shower and blow-dried my hair before throwing on clothes and doing my makeup. I stared in the mirror, trying to decide if this was the look I was going for. We were meeting at a bar, so I could get away with being a little extra. But it was technically a business meeting, so I didn’t want my cleavage doing the talking for me. It was a fine line.
When I finally settled on my look, I headed out. I didn’t want to give myself any time to rethink anything, either the clothes or the fact that I was doing this at all. I wanted to know what was going on, but the fact that he didn’t want to talk about it on the phone made me nervous. If I didn’t go right then, I might end up talking myself out of it.
Leaving so fast meant I got to the bar early. I walked in cautiously, evaluating the space so I could settle into it. It was still early in the evening, which meant the place wasn’t crowded. I made my way over to the bar itself and sat on one of the round, backless stools.
“Hey, there,” a woman behind the bar said, walking up and setting a napkin down in front of me. “What can I get for you?”
She was smiling in that way that involved her eyes as much as her mouth. The happiness radiated out of her like it was just her natural state of being, and it put me at ease.
“Just a beer,” I said.
“Any particular kind?” she asked with a laugh.
I looked at the handles on the taps and shook my head. “Whatever’s your favorite.”
The woman grinned a little wider, if that was possible, and pulled a glass out. “I don’t think I’ve seen you around here before.”